Who knew that the city I work in would have two yarn shops?? Not me. But I found the newest one yesterday and am so happy I don’t have to drive into Meridian any more for my Lamb’s Pride addiction.

The shop is called Puffy Mondaes and is very cute. They seem to have a pretty good selection of Brown Sheep yarns and a lot of colorful Regia sock yarns. I also found some very pretty yarns but didn’t get the name and of course I didn’t have my camera with me. The shop has a much “younger” feel than the other yarn shop in Nampa. Not that I don’t like the other shop, but it’s turned into a quilting/knitting shop and I can see myself going to Puffy Mondaes knitting night before I could the other place.

Anyway, I got on their mailing list and realized it only took me about 4 minutes to get back to work. I’m sure that’s not a good thing with all the budgeting going on around here. But at least I know if I need yarn to get me through the weekend on a project I can swing by there either at lunch or after work.

Who knew something I was craving would turn out to be quite healthy.

Last week we got on the subject of kabobs at work. Since then I hadn’t been able to get them off my mind. I marinated two rather large chicken breasts in Kraft’s Light Zesty Italian salad dressing. Then I skewered the chicken with sweet yellow onions, pineapple, and bell peppers. I basted the skewers with a little more dressing and threw them on the bbq. Kabobs alone are a perfect reason to invest in even the cheapest outdoor grill (Kim, I’m talkin’ to you!). I put it with some white rice and teriyaki sauce and it was our Sunday dinner. Every once in a while it’s nice to have a dinner and when I look at what I’m eating I realize it’s pretty good for me.

The only thing I forgot for this was cherry tomatoes. Those would have added that pop of color that seems to be missing. Otherwise it was pretty good

This last weekend we loaded up the car

and headed north to Donnelly, a teeny-tiny little town about 2 hours north of Boise, on Cascade Lake for a long weekend. My husband recently found his long lost half-sister (thanks to Myspace) and they’ve become close fast. Her mom owns a cabin up there and we were all invited to stay up there. It was beautiful.

Not the view from their house, but just down the road. It was so peaceful and quiet. Even with an extra dog. I just love the dog butts

 The dogs had so much fun exploring. And it was cool. I loved putting my sweatshirt on and hanging out (i.e. drinking) by the firepit at night.

But the best part of the weekend was taking the dogs to the lake and letting them play in the sand and water

This was Ginger’s first time on a beach. The first couple of times we threw the stick in the water she dove head first after it and then didn’t know what to do. Daisy, who we thought hated water, wouldn’t stay out.

She really wanted those sticks!

She swam until her legs were shaking, and then she swam some more. Ginger just loved runing up and down the beach

Over all it was a great weekend. I think this last pic sums up the fun we all had

They didn’t move all night and most of the next day.

It really doesn’t take much to make me happy. Here is some proof:

This was the first bloom off the rose bush my husband was adamant we tear out. There were two very old rose bushes outside our front door that looked like they’d never really been taken care of. I let him pull out the worst looking of the two. And this beautiful rose was proof that I could get a bloom or two out of it. I was so happy to cut it and put it in a vase to flaunt in our kitchen for him to see

And here is my first harvest off the raspberry bush in the backyard that he hasn’t gotten around to cutting down (sorry, not the best picture):

There is nothing like sun ripened raspberries. I’m sad because I half forgot about them and there are a lot of dried up berries out there that I could have enjoyed. After tasting the first few I will be out there every other day to get more. I already can’t wait to put them on my cereal tomorrow morning. I will be sad when hubby does get around to tearing it out, but it’s another thing in our yard that was never taken care of and needs to go. Or at least seriously cut back. But for now I’m so happy to be saving money on fresh berries!

Ooohh, and we’re supposed to have a thunder and lightening storm tonight. Yep, summer storms make me happy too!

Between all the moving, home improvments, house guests, birthdays and work, I haven’t had a lot of time to knit. But I do have a few things to finally show off. First are the Noro Socks I finally finished for my hubby.

I haven’t soaked the socks so they are still kind of stratchy. I love the colors, but other than that I’m not sure if I’m crazy about Noro Sock yarn. I have another ball of it, but I don’t know that I’ll buy any more in the future.

Next is the Yarh Harlot’s An Unoriginal Hat. Have I mentioned I love cables? Yah, I think I did. I love this hat and I think I’ll end up with more than one.

This was done with a hand dyed Merino Silk yarn from Fun with Yarn. The color is called Wine Tasting. How perfect is that for me? I found this yarn a few years back after I learned to knit. I loved it, but never really knew what to do with it. It’s different shades of purple and varies in thickness a lot, which kind of scared me as a new knitter. For the longest time I’d just pull it out of my yarn stash and pet it, wondering if I’d ever use it. Yay! The hat was done on size 11 needles and is a tad big, but it will work in the winter when my hair is much thicker.

And lastly, I made myself a dishcloth

It’s Fantasy Naturale from Plymouth Yarn, 100% Cotton Mercerized. I found it at the little Quilting/Yarn shop here in Kuna. I used the pie crust basketweave stitch from the Vogue Stitchionary Volumn 1 book that I checked out from the library. Used size 7 needles and just sat down for a movie and had it done in a few hours time

I’m finally starting on a birthday present that I should have started already. I have a couple months, but there will be no pics until after it’s sent off, just in case someone reads my blog and spoils the surprise

I’m still not used to this strange state I live in and the natives. Most of the people I know and work with are from California, where I’m from. But every once in a while I run into someone who was actually born and raised here. They may have spent some time elsewhere, but they end come making there way back to Idaho. And even though they have ventured away from their comfort zone, albeit briefly, most (at least the one’s I know) haven’t come back with an expanded mind.

Case in point: Today we celebrated my supervisor’s birthday a few days early because 1) it’s on the weekend and 2) she’ll be gone the rest of the week for a long weekend (happy dance has been done multiple times by me and fellow co-workers). Our boss decided to close our department, which never happens and treat us to lunch for our supervisor’s birthday. Her choice - Panda Express. Fast food, fake Chinese food. Really??!!  It has a drive-thru for crying out loud! It definitely wouldn’t be my first choice for a lunch that my boss was paying for. But I’m not sure why we were all a little shocked with her choice. After all this is a woman who thinks Taco Bell is the best Mexican food she’s ever had, and that McDonald’s a few times a week for her three young kids is a healthy and nutritious choice for dinner. Did I mention she’s a native?

I’m sure my boss was thrilled to get off so cheaply for lunch. However, the other 4 of us, all of who have come from elsewhere - mainly CA, all decided next year we’re going to surprise her by actually picking out the restaurant and taking her there rather than telling her an hour before we leave to pick somewhere. Ya know, in case a large group needs reservations or we need to have plenty of time to drive into Boise (hint, hint).

Tonight I finally got my own computer set up again. I was going to keep blogging while using my hubby’s computer, but it got to be too much of a pain. It took my Ipod battery completely dying and needing charging for us to get my computer room situated and then get the damn machine set up.

In the last few weeks I completed the Noro socks, did a dish cloth, taught myself how to cable and am almost finished with the Yarn Harlot’s An Unoriginal Hat. Yep, I’m in love with cables. So in the next week or so I will be playing catch up on here, on the Knittyboards and Ravelry and on reading the blogs I can’t read at work.

I’ve been busy taking pictures of other things around here and there will be more to come later. I know, I promise that all the time.

On a side note: how can I forget so many of my passwords in a matter of a few weeks???

Well, almost back. I still don’t have my own computer set up and although I could blog from work I choose not too. Just in case some day in the future I need a major bitch session about my obnoxious boss or any of a number of other people I work with.

Anyway, we’re all moved, but still working on unpacking. We got the necessities out and are just trying to make those fit. We’ll worry about the rest later. We had company the first weekend we were here and again this weekend. While I love visitors it would be nice for us to be a little more settle before having weekend guests from out of town. Not only do I have to worry about stuffing boxes and crap into overflowing closets I have to find stuff to keep these people entertained. And cook and clean on top of that. Ugh!

Surprisingly, I did finish my first Noro Sock. Photobucket is being a pain in the ass so I’ll have to post pics later. The sock is for my hubby and the colors are so manly. He tried it on and of course commented on the scratchiness. I told him it’d get better with a good soak, but I think he doubts me. He’d better wear the damn socks for as much as the yarn cost and for as boring as another basic sock pattern is. I did cast on for the second one but haven’t gotten far on the cuff. I hate the cuff! This may be the first time I have second sock syndrome. I’m already thinking of something else to cast on and I’m not someone who typically has more than one project on the needles at a time. We’ll see if I come up with anything.

Let’s see…not a whole lot else going on right now. Tomorrow is my birthday and I plan on doing nothing but going to dinner with my hubby and probably my father-in-law since he’s in town. It’s fine by me because then it means I don’t have to deal with my crazy mother-in-law since the two don’t get along so well. I have to admit, I wasn’t too thrilled to have a guest on my birthday weekend, but now I think his timing couldn’t be better.

I’m so done with this moving business!! I just want to get back to normal - knitting, the gym, homecooked meals, watching TV. I’m tired of living between two houses and spending my nights and weekends painting. Three straight weeks of manual labor is about all I can handel! The carpet was installed yesterday which means we can move in this weekend. I don’t know how easy the moving will be since my husband’s family are all a bunch of flakes who still can’t commit to helping us and we don’t have too many friends yet. But it will get done. And we’ll remember how willing they all were the next time they move or need help with anything for that matter.

Needless to say, I’m only on the heel flap of the Noro sock I started way back when. Kim’sgotten me thoroughly distracted by sending me The Other Boleyn Girl. I love it and I’m so glad I didn’t see the movie. It’s in my Netflix queue, but the rate I’ve been watching movies lately I won’t get it for a couple of years and by then I won’t be making constant comparisons between the book and movie.

Tomorrow’s Friday and I’ll be glad when this week is over! Have a wonderful weekend.

Really?!! After a year and a half in this boring, monotonous, brain-dead job you’re amazed that I actually can do my job? And do it well??

I know, I amaze myself too sometimes.

At what point did you figure out I’m pretty familiar with with printer and which way the letterhead goes in? I mean, I’ve only been printing off the stupid thing since I started. Apparently I’ve stepped up from the lowly office monkey you thought I was up until now. If only I knew working the printer would make such an impact in your impression of me I’d have done something about it it much soon. At least evaluations are coming up. I hope my “awesomeness” with the printer is remembered. So glad I made your day, miss micro-manager.